#17 Bargains -- Don

It’s about 8 pm on a Sunday night as I write this.  I’m flying home from a few days in Orlando where I was attending an English teachers’ conference and the National Writing Project’s annual meeting.  It’s been a busy few days, and considering how late I’m going to be getting home tonight, I’ll be dragging quite a bit through work for the next couple of days. So, I guess, the first bargain I want to talk about is the bargain I’m going to make with myself where I agree to just hold on a couple of days and then I’ll rest up on Wednesday (which is the first day of my nearly week-long Thanksgiving break).

In addition to going to some great (and few not-so-great) sessions at the conference on how to be a better English teacher and/or workshop facilitator, Ruth and I took in three theme parks, the new Harry Potter movie, and an outlet mall.  As we like to say back in the hill country, “my dogs are a barkin’.”  Of course, my feet would probably be even a little bit more tender had I not went ahead and bought myself a new pair of comfortable shoes at the outlet mall.

When I think of the word “bargain,” I think of two different meanings.  The first is the type when we get a good deal for our money (in other words, the bargains we get when we see a good deal).  The new Mickey Mouse watch that I only paid $10 for at the outlet mall is a pretty good example of the first kind of bargain.  The other kind of bargain I think of is when we make a deal with someone after negotiating with them over something we both want.   For example, while we’re deciding what to do next in the theme park, we work out the deal that I’ll ride this ride with you if you agree to ride the next ride with me.

So after the last few days I’ve had, I guess I want to yak about where I’ve been and if I thought the expense of the theme parks was worth it or not.  Are the Disney parks a bargain?  Is it worth $10 to have a butterbeer in Hogsmead under the shadow of the Harry Potter ride?  What’s the best deal on a meal I made this week?

Okay, Question #1: Are the Disney Parks worth the expense? (I’m sure as my kids are reading this, they are sucking in their breath waiting for the answer because for nearly 10 years now I’ve been grumbling loudly that I’d never go to Disney because it cost too much; I think Ruth was more than a little bit surprised when I agree to purchase not one but two half-day tickets at Disney parks from the conference website on the night before we left for our trip). 

My answer is a qualified yes.   By “qualified” I mean the cost of the tickets to get into the parks are a pretty good deal; however, because of how easy it is to lose track of how much you’re spending once you are in the parks (on food, drinks, and souvenirs) it’s very easy to slip from good deal to bad deal if you are not very careful about how much you actually want to spend.  There’s a strange mentality that gets engendered in the park where you end up saying to yourself, “Well, it’s pretty special to be here so I’m going to go ahead and spend $22 for an éclair and another French dessert whose name I’m not exactly sure of.”  Now, one fancy “let’s splurge on a dessert” moment wouldn’t be so bad, but these parks are designed for you to have these “let’s spurge” moments every 12 minutes or so.   The bag of Japanese salty snow peas snack (they were like potato chips but made from snow peas) were a lot of fun and so was the caramel brownie from Germany; but I’m not sure I needed to spend the $8 for the beer from Norway (or was it Italy?).  Just what were we noshing on as we passed through Morocco and Canada? I don’t remember, but I’m sure Discover card never forgets.

But, like they say in the ads, “A week hanging out with my favorite person on Earth – Priceless.”  (We’re 39000 feet in the air and by now, hundreds of miles away from Orlando and we’re still snacking on Disney fare – chocolate covered almonds from “Ghirardelli.”  Yum!)  I guess the next bargain I make is with the exercise machine in the basement.

Question #2: Is it worth $10 to have a butterbeer in Hogsmeed (this is at the Harry Potter land at Universal Studios)?  Absolutely.  Until that first sip, I could only imagine what a butterbeer tasted like.  I would be glad to tell you what it tasted like, but I’d feel obligated to charge you a consulting fee (hey, it’s not like the IRS is going to let me deduct this just because I’m an English teacher and this is really literary research.  See – you’re not buying it either.)

My family knows I’m a bit of a tightwad (although I prefer the word “Frugal”).  I’d like to say how much we blew at the Harry Potter gift shops, but I can’t.  First of all, some of the stuff we bought are Christmas surprises and so I can’t talk about them lest a certain couple daughters find out about a good reason to come home for Christmas, and secondly, I can’t say I really know.  Ruth has her own copy of the credit card.  Could be scary.

Question #3: The best deal on a meal I had this week was the Baja Fish tacos from a restaurant in “Downtown Disney.”  They were delicious and very reasonably priced.

Disney, by the way, has their own shopping center (“Downtown Disney”) that has free bus service from all of their hotels/resorts.   “Free bus service” to go and spend more money on stuff after the theme parks are closed – now there’s a bargain for you.  Who doesn’t like free?  Only my Visa card knows how much those free trips cost me, but until I get the bill next month, I’m going to keep saying it was worth it.